Debbie Dingell

Democrat · U.S. House, Michigan District 6

Dingell was one of forty members who urged the administration to withhold a new arms package and future offensive arms transfers to the government of Israel pending an investigation. She is an original cosponsor of a bill to restore U.S. funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Dingell represents Michigan's 6th District, which runs from Ann Arbor down through Dearborn Heights.

Her position on transfers is on paper and it is conditional rather than absolute. In April 2024, after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, she was one of forty members who signed a letter asking the administration to withhold the arms package it had just authorized and any future offensive transfers until the strike was investigated. The letter names what was in that package: it "reportedly includes 1,800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 500 MK-82 500-pound bombs, and 25 F-35A fighter jets", and it says the 2,000-pound bombs "have been linked to multiple mass casualty events in Gaza and are capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away". It closes by asking that "any future military assistance to Israel, including already authorized transfers, is subject to conditions to ensure it is used in compliance with U.S. and international law." Those are the signatories' words collectively, not hers alone.

On her own she has pressed the same question at the State Department. After an Israeli strike on the last Catholic church in Gaza she wrote to the Secretary of State asking how the United States monitors whether the equipment it supplies is being used lawfully, and asked five questions including what the administration is doing to ensure U.S. military aid is not used against civilians and places of worship. The same letter states plainly: "In the last few months, little to no aid has entered the region due to Israel's blockade."

On aid to Palestinians her record is long and one-directional. She is an original cosponsor of the bill to restore U.S. funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and of a resolution calling for food and humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians, and she was one of more than a hundred members who asked the Secretary of State to demand a surge of infant formula and medical equipment into Gaza. Earlier, and before this war, she led letters asking two administrations to fund that agency at no less than the 2017 U.S. level of $360 million.

Her votes need naming rather than counting. She voted against the bill written in May 2024 to force delivery of the 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs the administration had paused, at a reported 35,272 people killed in Gaza. She also voted against striking $500 million for Israeli Cooperative Programs, which is money for the Iron Dome, short-range ballistic missile defense and Arrow systems rather than for munitions, so she is not against everything. She was not recorded on the July 2026 amendment that would have barred the year's funds for Israel and cut $3.3 billion from Foreign Military Financing, taken at a reported 73,246 killed, and she has published nothing about it. Asked at a town hall to pledge to refuse money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, she declined the pledge while saying she disagrees with the group: that is about her own fundraising. Her research page carries the rest, including a 2019 cosponsorship she withdrew.

Tracked votes: opposed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 3 of 4 recorded votes.

Research

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

U.S. aid to Palestinians

Characterization of the conflict

Related rhetoric and lobbying

Safety and antisemitism (context)

Race and status context

Consulted

Also in this race: Michael Mickevicius (Other), Linda Rayburn (Other), Clyde Shabazz (Green), Heather Smiley (Republican), Timothy A. Teagan (Libertarian) · All Michigan candidates.

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But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.